July 2010 Traffic Volume Trends

Travel Trends (July 2010)

Based on preliminary reports from the State Highway Agencies, travel during July 2010 on all roads and streets in the nation changed by 0.8 percent (2.2 billion vehicle miles) resulting in estimated travel for the month at 270.0** billion vehicle-miles.

This total includes 97.0 billion vehicle-miles on rural roads and 173.0 billion vehicle-miles on urban roads and streets.

Cumulative Travel changed by 0.2 percent (2.9 billion vehicle miles).

The larger changes to rural and urban travel are primarily because of the expansion in urban boundaries
reflected in the 2000 census. Travel estimates for 2004 and beyond will also reflect this adjustment.

Travel for the current month, the cumulative yearly total, as well as the moving 12-month total on all roads and streets is shown below. Similar totals for each year since 1985 are also included.

Travel in Millions of Vehicle Miles All Roads and Streets

Year

July

Year to Date

Moving 12-Month

1985

166,881

1,017,858

1,749,830

1986

171,114

1,051,927

1,808,832

1987

175,783

1,104,674

1,890,987

1988

184,779

1,166,778

1,986,431

1989

190,985

1,215,695

2,074,503

1990

195,470

1,249,210

2,140,555

1991

198,387

1,253,637

2,151,928

1992

206,616

1,298,275

2,216,853

1993

209,838

1,326,364

2,275,240

1994

214,778

1,356,007

2,326,348

1995

217,188

1,405,475

2,407,055

1996

225,109

1,428,788

2,446,088

1997

236,713

1,482,368

2,535,782

1998

239,944

1,512,756

2,590,760

1999

243,116

1,536,698

2,649,305

2000

245,139

1,593,493

2,736,254

2001

250,354

1,614,854

2,768,285

2002

256,364

1,652,620

2,833,314

2003

262,041

1,665,499

2,868,141

2004

265,797

1,717,456

2,941,632

2005

266,920

1,740,218

2,986,929

2006

263,335

1,750,595

2,999,772

2007

267,019

1,763,699

3,027,441

2008

261,785

1,737,824

3,003,916

2009

267,770

1,736,265

2,971,913

2010

269,994

1,739,178

2,982,532

Traffic Volume Trends is a monthly report based on hourly traffic count data. These data, collected at approximately 4,000 continuous traffic counting locations nationwide, are used to determine the percent change in traffic for the current month compared to the same month in the previous year. This percent change is applied to the travel for the same month of the previous year to obtain an estimate of travel for the current month. Because of the limited sample sizes, caution should be used with theses estimates. The highway Performance Monitoring System provides more accurate information on an anual basis.

** System entries may not add up to the give "All Systems" total due to rounding on pages 2 to 8.